Book 5 - Unity
by bbt1404
Summary: Picking up right where the finale left off, this story follows Korra and Asami in their adventures in the spirit world and the beginning of their relationship. But what will happen when a foe of avatars past finds them in the spirit world?
1. Chapter 1 - Aftermath

**Chapter 1 - Aftermath**

Korra reached out towards Asami's hand, even as she did all she could think was of how insane this all was,

"_Asami Sato, the beautiful, successful, rich, amazing genius, how could I even begin to compare to her_" she thought "_I'm reading too much into this, she doesn't feel the same, how can she? Just look at her, she's the most perfect girl in the world and I'm just... wait what?_"

Korra quickly glanced down, she squinted, hardly believing her eyes. Asami's hand on hers, she felt a smile begin to form as she looked back up. Her gaze was met and as they continued walking towards the spirit portal Korra found herself unable to avert it, no matter how she tried, she was completely captivated. As they reached the portal the two of them turned to face one another and they both knew, they reached out in unison to grasp each others hands. They stared into each others eyes; Asami enamoured by the deep blue hypnotizing pools that were Korra's eyes and Korra in turn completely infatuated by hers.

The portal let off 3 small pulses that travelled up the length of the beam into the sky, the two figures faded out and then seconds later into view in the purple spirit meadow where Korra had been just hours before; it seemed strange to her that in the same place she had been talking down Kuvira she was now with Asami, the flowers rippled slightly as a slight breeze passed over them, letting off tiny sparkling powder as they swayed,

"Korra! It's beautiful!" she exclaimed letting go of the avatars hands and turning to face the expansive ocean of violet that surrounded them.

"It's not the only thing" Korra muttered under her breath

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"Oh uhm.. I said it sure is" Korra said nervously, quickly forcing a smile and scratching the back of her head as Asami continued to look around in wonder and venture out into the sea of flowers. She could feel her stomach turning,

"_Why is it so hard to tell her? Ugh I can vanquish Vaatu but I can't tell a girl I like her, even though she probably feels the same_." Korra thought to herself, pulling at her hair, "_What's wrong with me!_"

A grey cloud began to cast over the meadow as the sun shone brighter. The change in heat was instant. Off in the distance Korra could see the rain begin to fall,

"_Korra get a hold of yourself, you're the avatar, remember, how you feel changes the spirit world_" Korra reminded herself.

Asami turned to look at her, she smiled and let out a small laugh, "Come on, we can't stay here forever, lets go explore" She said reaching out and taking hold of Korra's hand, pulling her playfully away from the portal into the meadow, "Come on!"

"Okay, okay" Korra giggled, "let's go", she looked at Asami as she dragged her further and further into the meadow, it made her feel more nervous, she could feel the butterfly spirits fluttering in her stomach, everything she did was perfect, she was perfect, why was she so perfect? This is impossible.

The two of them walked around for hours, Asami basking in the pure wonder of the spirit world and Korra realising more and more with each passing second the depth of her love for her. Eventually they came to a small creek with, what seemed to be, a miniature Banyan grove tree slightly up hill from the edge.

"Maybe we should stop here, for tonight that is, uhm..." Korra said scratching her head, "or we can carry on walking you know, whateve.." Korra trailed off, unable to finish her sentence. The grey clouds began to swirl around again.

"Here's perfect" Asami said confidently " I love it" smiling at her. Korra beamed a huge smile as the clouds dissipated. They began setting up their camp, by the time they'd finished it was beginning to go dark, the sunset visible on the horizon, it had been a long day. They sat watching the sunset, the spirit world sky painted shades of purple, blue, orange and thousands of other colours, Asami took a deep breath in,

"It's breathtaking, I've never seen anything like this in the physical world, I never imagined the spirit world could be so beautiful"

"Yeah, everything's so beautiful here" Korra agreed, looking over at Asami, smiling gleefully, her mind felt fuzzy, "_I wish I could tell her how I felt, I should have said, yeah, it is beautiful, just like you, dammit Korra, this is just like what happened with Mako, you're so scared to say anything you're going to lose her. I just hope it's not exactly like with Mako_." They watched the sun go down together until they were almost in complete darkness. The two of them agreed to go to sleep, they were both exhausted after everything that had happened,

"We'll carry on exploring tomorrow, Oh, maybe we'll meet some cute spirits" Asami said, "do you think..." she continued to talk but it was all just noise to Korra, she started to feel numb and all her senses began to fade; she was intoxicated, completely helpless to stop, she just stared. Eventually Asami stopped talking, with Korra non the wiser they both led down and closed their eyes.

"Korra?" Asami whispered.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"It's really cold in the spirit world at night"

"I can make a fire... you know, if you want?"

"No, no, it's ok" Asami sighed as she grinned ear to ear "I was thinking maybe I could come and sleep next to you? So you can help me keep warm." Korra's eyes burst open,

"Yeah... uhm, sure, please..." Korra stuttered "if.. if you want" Asami unzipped her sleeping bag and Korra looked over; she stood there wearing nothing but a baggy shirt and some underwear, Korra's eyes widened as she examined the image of perfection presented before her,

"Is this ok? Or do you want me to put some more clothes on first?"

"No!" Korra yelled, instantly clasping her hand over her mouth and turning over to look away, she let out a little whimper and squeezed her eyes shut, "_Spirits! I'm so stupid, why did I do that? dammit Korra. Ugh I'm such an idiot_" she thought to herself. "o-okay, you're fine like that, how ever you're most comfortable" she murmured, sinking deeper into her sleeping bag, the butterflies returning.

She felt the cover being taken off from her, she turned over and opened her eyes, seeing Asami lowering herself into her sleeping bag. she sat and began to slide deeper in, she zipped up the side and led next to each other, just gazing into one another's eyes, Korra watched as Asami's red lip's pursed, "I feel so safe with you" she whispered tenderly, giving a big smile and closing her eyes, Korra stared at her for a second before turning over and closing her eyes too,

"Goodnight Asami", her breath was taken as she felt an arm come over her, Korra backed slowly closer to Asami as she grabbed a hold of her hand, she felt a warm breath on the back of her ear,

"Goodnight Korra".


	2. Chapter 2 - The Spirit

**Chapter 2 – The Spirit**

Korra awoke and instantly turned over, "good mo-," she stopped mid-sentence, "_where is she?_" she thought. Korra sat up looking around for any sign of Asami but to no avail, her mind began to race with the thoughts of what could've happened to her, a look of worry painted her face, "_what if Wan Shi Tong found us? What if she decided she doesn't want to be here? What if she doesn't want me? What if she went home? What if..._" The clouds began to swirl around in the sky again as Korra stood up in an attempt to find Asami.

"Finally awake?" Asami's unmistakeable voice came from down near the creek, a huge look of relief spread across Korra's face and she began to walk down towards the water. The swirling clouds started to retreat and the morning sun beamed down warmly and brightly on the creek. Korra came to the edge of the water, seeing Asami washing up in a small swirling pool, "I thought I'd better get up early to get cleaned up, gotta look my best for my day of exploring" she laughed "I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed though, I thought I'd have more time to make myself look presentable and put on my make-up"

"Presentable? You look perfect, with or without your make-up, don't do it just for me, you don't need to" Korra said, only realising what she had said seconds later and dying of embarrassment, blushing bright red.

"Oh, well thanks... but I think I'd still like to try to look nice" Asami said laughing " you know, I had hoped to make you a traditional water tribe breakfast, cucumberquats and sea prunes, I went out specially before we left for them, I wanted to surprise you" she brought a pouty look to her face. Korra looked over scratching the back of her head,

"Oh I'm sorry I can go back to sleep while you make it if you want" she said jokingly, slightly forcing a smile.

"Don't think you're getting out of it that easily, since you're up I think you ought to help me cook, don't you?" Asami said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah, sure, ok, I'll go make a fire"

"Korra! I'm just joking with you, go get washed up and I promise when you're done, I'll have it ready" Korra headed down into the water and began washing herself.

When she'd finished Korra emerged from the water ready to return to Asami and to her sea prunes. As she was just about to set off back up their camp site she noticed Asami's make-up bag at the side of the water, she picked it up, examining it. She slowly opened it and peered inside at all the different tools, powders, things she had never even seen before, let alone had any idea how to use or what they did. She sheepishly reached inside and picked out Asami's trademark deep red lipstick, she looked down intently at the stick as she slowly twisted it upwards.

Asami sat stirring the small pot filled with cooking cucumberquats, watching the banking nervously waiting for Korra to emerge "ugh, hurry up Korra they're going to burn" as she finished a figure began to progress up the banking "Korra! It's ready!" Asami looked down, moving the boiling food frantically into two bowls attempting to save the food before it burnt as Korra continued to walk closer to her. "I hope I've cooked them right, I've never cooked water tribe food before so I wasn't quite sure how to do it, just tell me if it's wrong..." Asami looked up, displaying a noticeably worried expression and offering forward one of the bowls, her look of worry quickly changed to one of confusion and shock as she looked at Korra, her eyes coloured purple, her lips luscious red, even if it was done noticeably messily Asami could feel her heart begin to melt, "_she did all this for me? I've never seen Korra wear make-up before, I won't tell her that her eye-liner's wonky, she looks so strange with make-up on but also really, really pretty_" she thought to herself, raising an eyebrow and smiling up at Korra, letting out a small nervous laugh,

"Like you said I need to look my best for our trip, I hope it's ok that I used your make-up, I just... I wanted to give you a surprise too" Korra uttered timidly, clearly unsure as to whether or not Asami would approve and clearly distressed at the thought of not looking good for her.

"You look great, come on, sit, have some breakfast, we've got a long day ahead of us" Korra sat down smiling widely, then quickly eating from the bowl. The food tasted slightly different to actual water tribe food but strangely not worse,

"The food is amazing Asami, I thought you couldn't cook"

"I can't" Asami giggled and Korra quickly followed, "looks like we're having this every day now, unless you want to do all the cooking?"

Soon after, they had packed up their camp with all their things, and were ready to leave. The leaves of the miniature banyan began to rustle, Korra turned around quickly, expecting trouble, she lit a fire in her palm "whoever you are come out now." A small chubby green almost humanoid spirit fell down from an outstretched branch of the tree, it struggled to its feet and waddled towards Korra as fast as its tiny legs could carry it. Its one small curly hair-like appendage swaying from the top of it's head as it swayed. Its eyes almost identical to a pair of buttons and its mouth almost too tiny to be seen when it moved,

"Hi, avatar!" it yelled in a squeaky voice, reminiscent of a high pitched Meelo, while waving its arm fumblingly. Korra clenched her fist closed, extinguishing the fire in her hand,

"Uh, hi?"

"So what are you doing in the spirit world? And who's that?" he inquired pointing gracelessly at Asami, stumbling and nearly falling over from the force of waving his arm.

"uhm..."

"I'm Asami, me and Korra are on vacation here in the spirit world"

"Wait, wait, Who are you and why were you in the tree?" Korra said stubbornly, thoughts running through her head, trying her hardest to not let her worry for Asami paint her face

"I'm Shiju, I... I saw you and I just... I always wanted to meet the Avatar, I've heard stories about you, you're amazing" the spirit said his eyes swelling, looking up at Korra with admiration. Korra looked down at him, a proud look slowly spreading across her face. Asami looked over, rolling her eyes at Korra and smiling. The spirit looked over at Asami, "you're really pretty for a human you know" he said, grinning.

"Well thank you, Korra, I like him " Asami said warmly "I told you we'd meet a cute spirit" Asami exclaimed slightly smugly, laughing "but sorry little spirit we're getting going now, we're going for a day of exploring the spirit world, Korra's going to show me around"

"Can I come? Please? I've always wanted to meet the avatar" he said looking up at Korra, a pleading look in his eyes, "do you need some company?" Korra breathed in, ready to tell the spirit they wanted some alone time,

"N-"

"We'd love some company, right Korra?" Asami interrupted

"Yeah.. sure, you can come with us" The spirit ran over to Korra, nearly falling as his legs couldn't carry him fast enough, he grabbed her leg and hugged it, rubbing his face in the side of Korra's leg. He let out a contented almost purr-like sound.

The spirit bounced on the spot with excitement, "Come on then, lets go, I want to take you to my favourite place here, it's soo pretty, I'll show you, come on, come on" he started to waddle away as fast as he could, he still couldn't keep up with Korra and Asami as they walked.

"Do you want me to carry you?" Korra said tenderly

"Yes please" Shiju said looking down at the floor, he began skimming the grass with the bottom of his leg and falling from hitting the ground. Korra reached down and pulled upwards, the ground under Shiju elevated from the floor to just below Korra's shoulder height, she stood next to it,

"Climb on" he scampered over and tried to pull himself up onto Korra's shoulder, his legs waved about in the air as he tried to climb up, Korra clenched her fist and she earth beneath him shot up, pushing him up onto her shoulder,

"Thanks Avatar" he said, his smile beaming, "ok, this way, I'll show you where to go" waving his arm in front of Korra, nearly tumbling off of her shoulder. They walked for 20 minutes before they came to a huge open plain, Shiju talking the whole way; "- and that's how I met Iroh, he's really funny and he makes great tea and he taught me how to play Pai Sho"

"Yeah, I know Iroh, he was good friends with avatar Aang"

"Oh! Oh! We're here" Shiju shouted, again bouncing on the avatars shoulder clumsily. Korra and Asami looked around confused. All that was before them was a huge open field and a row of trees ahead of them between the two hills surrounding the meadow.

"Uhm, are you sure? There's nothing here" Korra said, looking perplexed, she looked over at Asami who too gave a shrug, looking confused.

"Over there!" Shiju sighed, flailing his arms in the direction of the trees, Korra and Asami walked over and pushed through the hanging vines between two of the trees. As she moved through the vines Korra could see more and more of the area on the other side. She pushed away the last few vines, her eyes widened and her mouth fell agape.

"Wow" She uttered, stunned. A deep blue pool lay before them, surrounded by trees a few feet back from the waters edge, the sunlight penetrated through the canopy as the patches of light danced on the surface of the water. The spirits floated on the water and frolicked in circles in the sky. There was a slight purple tint in the air, as it visibly twirled above the pool and faded into the mass of trees surrounding it. Asami emerged from behind Korra through the vines, she gasped as her eyes opened wide.

"It's beautiful right?" Shiju exclaimed jumping down from Korra's shoulder then turning to grin at Asami. He tottered closer to the water, "hey guys, it's the avatar!" he shouted, all of the spirits turned and gathered around Shiju. They started trying to speak to Korra, all words were inaudible from the sheer number of voices.

"Yes, I'm the Avatar but I'm here on vacation so could you please just leave us alone for a while and let us relax?" Shiju turned to the group of spirits,

"Guys, she's here with her... friend," he started to laugh to himself. The two women walked towards the pool and sat down beside one another. Asami put her hand on the ground between her and Korra and leaned back, Korra placed down her hand to prop herself up, without looking it landed on top of Asami's, Korra quickly pulled up her hand from Asami's, squirming further away from her and began scratching the back of her head while laughing awkwardly "_good job Korra, way to play it cool_" she thought to herself.

"So Avatar, I've been wanting to ask, why are there three portals now?" Shiju said curiously sitting between two women, tilting his head slightly to the side. All the spirits gathered around her, clambering all over her,

"yeah"

"how come"

"where does it come out?"

Korra sighed and looked over at Asami who just laughed and mouthed "go on, it's fine... Avatar" rolling her eyes, smiling and shaking her head jokingly.

"Well, there was this really nasty lady, she was using spirits to attack other humans. She made a giant weapon that used spirit vines to make things explode. But she couldn't control it and it got stuck in the Republic city spirit wilds, all the vines charged it up even more so it was even more powerful and it was shooting all over the city, it was right about to hit her with the spirit beam. I stepped in the way and bent the energy in the beam, I'm not quite sure what happened or how I did it, next thing I knew I was in the spirit world in front of the portal."

"Wow, so you made the portal? That's so awesome, I see why you like her" Shiju said, astounded, looking over at Asami. Korra smiled "_wait, what?_" she thought, her eyes widened and her smile faded, she turned towards Asami who blushed a little.

They stayed at the oasis until nightfall, the spirits constantly asking Korra about her adventures and Asami just watching, fascinated, fixated on Korra. "I think it's right about time we all went to sleep, don't you Shiju?"

"But, but I have so many more questions" He frowned

"Maybe tomorrow" Korra said, smiling down at the little spirit.

Shiju and his friends started to waddle away as Korra and Asami began to set up their camp,

"Do you want to sleep with me again tonight? I don't want you to be cold" Korra said, looking over at Asami worriedly,

"Yes please, last night was the best nights sleep I've had for a while, you're a good Asami-warmer, patent pending" Asami laughed, rolling her sleeping bag up and putting it back into her bag, as Shiju walked further and further away from the women his voice began to fade,

"You know, the spirit world's always so much nicer when the Avatar's in love, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside" Asami gasped slightly, looking over at Korra setting up her sleeping bag, she smiled a little,

"In love?"


	3. Chapter 3 - Stormy Skies

**Chapter 3 – Stormy skies**

Korra looked around, she was stood atop a large pillar of rock, so high the ground was nigh invisible. She looked forward and upwards to notice Zaheer diving through the air towards her, she screamed as he flew past her, knocking her to the ground, "You can't fight me and the poison!" he yelled floating in front of her then flying past her again, she felt weak, her arms and legs going numb and her heart pounding almost out of her chest to just keep her alive as she fell to the ground. Korra weakly attempted to push herself up onto her feet but to no avail, she fell to the ground, light dimming from her eyes and her mind numbing more and more with each passing second. Just as her eyes were about to close Zaheer descended down in front of Korra holding a woman over his shoulder, he began to wave his arms in a circular motion, airbending the woman off of his shoulder, wrapping the air around her and forcing her down onto her knees. Her black hair draped down in front of her face,

"Korra! help m-" Zaheer wrapped a bubble of air around the woman's head and dragged it up, pulling the air from her lungs,

"Asami!" Korra yelled helplessly, "Zaheer stop, stop!... please!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face, her voice cracking. She reached out powerlessly to stop him, her arm fell to the floor, all of her strength was spent up as she watched Asami's breath being dragged from her lungs. "Zaheer, I'll kill you" she wept unable to contain herself, "I'll kill y..." her sobbing becoming almost inaudible from the pain.

"Korra! Korra!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaah" Korra screamed fearfully, her eyes opened as she flung forward, glowing fiery white, fire in hand. She turned to face Asami and the glow slowly faded from her eyes, "aah, what? Where?" She looked around eyes opened wide, her breathing manic and her hair fallen messily in her face. The sky was black with clouds, lighting up occasionally with the flashes of lightning, all words almost inaudible from the constant thunder. The spirits around the pool were black in colour and all fighting one another, screeching awful noises, Asami swung her arms around her pulling Korra in close, whispering in her ear, "you're ok, you're safe now, you're safe."

Korra's breathing slowed she leaned into Asami's shoulder and began to sob, jolting up and down from sorrow. She threw her arms around Asami. "I...I thought I'd lost you, I'm so glad you're here." A huge smile formed on Korra's face as she continued to cry and squeezed Asami tighter.

"It's ok, it's ok." Asami replied, placing her hand on the back of Korra's head and stroking her hair, "I'm here." Korra stayed there and closed her eyes, her face the image of contentment, she moved meekly away from Asami, wiping her eyes with her arm as the storm died down,

"I thought you were gone, I thought..." she trailed off, her voice cracking, the raw emotion obvious in her voice,

"Korra" Korra looked up to meet her gaze "I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere" She smiled at the young avatar, she placed her hand on Korra's cheek, wiping away a tear with her thumb. Korra leaned into her hand and closed her eyes. Korra let out a contented purr. "you were screaming and flailing around in your sleep, I... I think you were in the avatar state, tell me what happened, what's wrong?" Korra looked up into Asami's eyes, an obvious look of care deep in them, Asami smiled "tell me."

"It's Zaheer"

"I thought you'd dealt with that, I thought you were ok now?"

"I am, I just... He haunts me, I still have nightmares" Asami moved forward and put her arms tenderly around the avatar, she pulled her in close,

"He can't hurt you any more Korra"

"I know, I just feel so helpless, its been over 3 years and he still controls me"

"Korra" Asami said warmly, moving away from the Avatar and placing her hands on her shoulders "He doesn't control you, look what you just did a few days ago, You beat Kuvira, you know, the tyrannical dictator who took over the whole Earth kingdom. You are not helpless. Zaheer can't hurt you"

"It wasn't me that he hurt, that's why I was so scared, so angry..." She looked down, sighed, knowing that it was the time, the time to tell Asami exactly how she felt, "it was you, he took you." she sighed

"Me?" Korra nodded,

"You, it was the same as when we fought, we were in the same position but instead of bending the air from my lungs, it was you he attacked and I was too weak to stop it"

"I'm here, I'm fine, he can't get us, he can't get me, Korra, I'm here, and I'm always going to be here for you" Asami said compassionately, reaching down and placing her hand on top of Korra's and putting her other hand under her chin, lifting her head up. She looked into her eyes lovingly "I'm not going anywhere" Korra smiled.

The clouds quickly began to retreat away, the sun began to shine and a huge rainbow formed overhead, Asami looked around bewildered,

"It was raining a minute ago, this doesn't make any sense" she looked at the sky, "what is it with the weather here, it's been changing every few minutes since we arrived" she looked at Korra, raised her eyebrows and looked at the young avatar inquisitively, her face the image of confusion,

"Yeah, sorry... that's my fault"

"What? how can it be your fault?"

"Do you remember when Jinora got taken by Unalaq?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do wi-" Asami stopped mid-sentence when Korra looked at her, her face displaying a clear expression, be quiet and let me tell you,

"When I was looking for her I met Iroh, Lord Zuko's uncle, he was with some of his spirit friends, I got mad that I couldn't find her, some storm clouds came into the sky and all his spirit friends turned dark and started fighting. He told me that in the spirit world how the avatar feels affects the surroundings, it even affects how the spirits are, how they feel, how they act" Korra gestured over to the spirits near to the pool, all playing gleefully, returned to their original forms,

"They were dark a minute ago, I don't understand this Korra, so all these weather changes have been because your emotions changed? Why has the weather been changing so much?" Korra sighed, exasperated,

"When the avatar is afraid or angry the weather becomes stormy, when I'm nervous it starts getting cloudy but the sun still shines, when I'm sad it rains, when I'm happy it's always sunny and when I feel... in... love..." her voice began to quieten as she got further into her sentence, incapable of finishing, she gestured around awkwardly, towards the sky with her hands and looked up at the sky, Asami looked around, bewildered mouth slightly open.

"This" Korra blushed as she began to look very sheepish, playing with her hair, she giggled nervously and looked at the floor, her foot twirling."All those changes were because of you, It's...I... I've been trying to tell you..." she trailed off, yet again unable to finish, looking almost defeated.

Asami looked over at Korra and could instantly tell that this was hard for her, she was obviously nervous about what would happen. She smiled and walked slowly towards Korra, grabbing both of her hands lightly, tenderly. Korra looked up, her eyes slightly glazed over, she burst out, desperately trying to go back on her words, not wanting to confuse or alienate Asami any further "I know you don't feel the same, you.. I... it doesn't matter, it's ok, I was a fool to think I could ever be with you, I knew I read too much into it, UGH I'm so stupid. Why am I so stupid, I'm such an idiot, I knew I shouldn't have said anything, I had to ruin everything, just forget about it, I'm sorry... ugh, spirits! I'm so stupid, sorry... I'm sorry"

"Korra?"

"hmm?" she looked up, eyes still wet.

"just please shhhhh for a second... please" putting up her index finger and putting it up against Korra's lips, Korra stopped talking and looked into Asami's eyes intrigued ,"you're not a fool or an idiot and you're certainly not stupid, you're amazing... you're... perfect. Do you realise who you are? You're Korra, the Avatar, you're Korra, the saviour of the air nation, you're Korra, the bringer of the spirits. Most importantly though, you're Korra, the most amazing, selfless, beautiful, incredible person I've ever met. You know, when you asked me about coming on this vacation I didn't know what was going to happen, I was anxious because well.. I thought we'd come here as more than friends, then when we got to the portal I thought we both knew, that's what I'd been waiting for, that's what I wanted... for so long"

"You wanted it? You wanted me?" Korra murmured quietly, shocked, Asami looked down at the floor,

"I noticed how nervous you are around me, I've known how you feel, You just needed to say it." She looked up to meet Korra's gaze "I won't, I can't forget about it and don't you ever dare be sorry, I... I love you Korra" she sighed with relief "I've waited so long to say that."

Asami put her arms around Korra and pulled her closer, Korra rested her head on Asami's chest as a single tear rolled down her cheek and she smiled, she began to jerk as she cried, not quite sure as to whether it was because of joy or relief, maybe both. She moved away wiping her eyes with her arm and beaming a huge smile, she looked up into Asami's eyes, those beautiful green eyes, then down to her luscious rose lips, she leaned up, swung her arms around Asami's neck, closed her eyes and pushed her lips to Asami's. Asami's eye lids felt heavy, all the strength drained from her knees and her stomach began to feel like a swarm of butterfly spirits. Korra's mind was racing, "_this is it, this is it, I can't believe it, Spirits, Korra! this is it! you have her, you have her, This has to be a dream, please don't wake up_" She began to weep, she could feel her smile pushing to be bigger, the muscles in her mouth ached from happiness. She moved slowly away from Asami, her lips had other plans, clinging on to Asami's as if it would be the last time, as if it were life or death. Korra opened her eyes and stood there staring into Asami's,

"I love you too."


	4. Chapter 4 - An Old Friend

**Chapter 4 – An Old Friend**

The path through the forest was winding, the ground deep green with a slight blue tinge. Trees loomed over the path from both sides, the ground under them slightly arisen and the canopy above drowning out almost all natural light. A blue mist spread through the trees eventually being drowned out by the darkness within.

Korra and Asami walked down the pathway, Korra dragging slightly behind. She stared at Asami as she walked, entranced. Her mouth slightly open, her eyes almost blank and her feet dragging along the floor as she walked.

"Korra come o-" Asami turned to look at her, he smiled tenderly at Korra, almost laughing, "Korra, you're staring." Korra quickly darted her gaze downwards, rubbing the back of her neck and chuckling bashfully,

"oh... uhm.. I.. uh, sorry."

"Don't be" Asami said, smiling "just next time, don't be so obvious" she laughed. Asami extended her arm out to the side, opening her palm. She looked down at her hand then back to Korra, gesturing her forward. Korra burst into a slight jog to catch up to the older woman. She stopped beside her, extended her arm sideways and intertwined her fingers with Asami's own. They fit together perfectly, like 2 pieces of a puzzle that never knew they needed one another. Korra pondered on this thought, how ironic that they'd been right next to each other all this time, a perfect match both trying to fit with the wrong puzzle piece.

A rustling noise came from behind a bush to the side of the path. A human figure began to emerge from the darkness behind the bush. Korra let go of Asami's hand, shifting to look at the bush, then flicking her fingers out from her clenched fists, igniting fires in her palms; Asami flinched, moving slightly away from Korra, she then took a fighting stance, standing behind her.

A hearty laugh came from the persons direction, "you wouldn't hurt an old man would you?" A plump man emerged from in the forest, wearing a long green robe, gold trimming around the edges. His long white hair stretching down his back, his long snowy beard swaying in the wind. Korra's eyes widened as she clenched her fists closed, shifting from her stance. Asami looked over at her, confused, but quickly followed suit, lowering her guard. The man smiled amiably, "It's nice to see you again Korra"

"Iroh" Korra said, looking shocked. "It's good to see you too"

"wait, Iroh?" Asami questioned, "like, The Dragon of the west, that... that Iroh?"

"That is one of many names I went by in my life, can't say I was ever too fond of it though," Asami looked on in awe.

"So Iroh, what were you doing in that bush?"

"This is the white dragon bush, it makes the most delectable tea to be found in the spirit or physical world, that or it's the white jade bush which is quite poisonous. I was trying to decide whether to pick it or not. Hmmm, delectable tea or deadly poison?" Iroh ran his fingers through his beard, looking puzzled "I had a similar predicament when I was travelling with Prince Zuko many years ago, it didn't work out how I had hoped, I think I shall leave the tea for once." the old man chuckled, "like I told you a long time ago, in the spirit world you always seem to find something you didn't know you were looking for, why don't you come back to my home, I'll make a pot of tea."

Korra looked over at Asami who nodded intently, lifting her hands close to her chest, "thank you Iroh, we would be honoured"

The three of them continued down the winding path eventually coming to a large open field, in front of them built into the side of a hill was a small stone house, one circular window cut out of the front just to the side of the front door. Iroh walked over, opening the door to reveal a small room. Just through the door was a small circular stone table, a diamond pattern carved into it, with 4 wooden chairs surrounding it. Slightly further in there was a ridge in the wall, after that a waist high counter traced the wall around the room, different teapots and cups spread around it. Two hallways were built into the walls on opposite sides of the kitchen.

"Please, come in, take a seat" Iroh said, gesturing the two in. Asami sat down, Korra immediately grabbed one of the other chairs and moved it next to Asami, she turned to her smiling, Asami quickly returning the favour. "I hope you both like jasmine" Iroh turned around grinning widely, attempting to tie his apron around his back.

"I can't believe this Korra" Asami said quietly, "I know you're the Avatar and I never expected this vacation to be uneventful but we're being served tea, by The Dragon of the west!" Korra giggled and the two of them slumped down and began longingly staring into one another's eyes. Iroh turned around to look at the two, quickly turning back, an awkward look on his face. He placed the cups of tea, along with the tea pot, on a tray and turned to bring it to the table.

"So Korra, what brings you to the spirit world?"

"Well after everything that'd happened with Kuvira we both decided we needed a vacation." Asami said, looking down grievously, Korra slid her hand over the table to grasp Asami's hand, slowly stroking it with her thumb. She had almost forgotten what'd happened to her father.

"I understand" Iroh smiled warmly at Asami as she looked up, "it's a pleasure to meet you miss..?"

"Oh I'm sorry, Iroh this is Asami Sato, my..." A puzzled look came across Korra's face "_my... what? We never really talked about it. What are we exactly?" _She looked over at Asami seeking some guidance or confirmation as to what they were, exactly. Asami smiled, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"Her girlfriend," Asami said confidently, affectionately. Girlfriend, it sounded so right.

"I had guessed" Iroh said earnestly as the Korra and Asami looked at each other confusedly "I saw Aang give Katara that look thousands of times, some things never change" he smiled "plus the hand holding is a big give away," both women laughed nervously. "so what have you gotten up to on your vacation up to now?" Korra and Asami looked at each other, trying to think what they had done up to this point.

"Honestly? Not much. We did meet a spirit, Shiju, I think you know him, he showed us around for a while and took us to this amazing oasis, it was beautiful." Asami said, "other than that we've just kind of wandered around, it's hard to find your way around here" she turned to Korra smiling lovingly "but, like you said, often when you're lost you find something you never knew you were looking for."

"The spirit world is very mysterious but so is love. It fills me with joy to see you two so happy together" Asami grabbed Korra's hand, interlocking their fingers, the old man smiled at them.

"Thank you Iroh, you're the first person we've told this to, I... I didn't know what to expect" Korra said as Iroh looked over,

"Young love is hard but all love is sacred, be it between man and woman, woman and woman or even man and spirit."

"I hope everyone is as understanding as you" Korra said looking down, disheartened. Asami placed her other hand on top of their still clasped hands.

"Korra" he said, a caring tone in his voice, "you cannot worry what other people think, I once told a young Avatar Aang that he was very wise to choose happiness and love above perfection, he understood the importance of being happy and staying true to yourself. Yes there may be people who disapprove but the true heart can weather all storms and I know, just from this short time I've seen you two together your heart is true." Asami lifted Korra's head up and looked deeply into her eyes, they both began to smile, Korra let out a small happy chuckle, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Anyway enough with all this mushiness" Korra laughed, "is this a Pai Sho board?" she said pointing at the carving in the table. "lets play a game!" Iroh laughed,

"I accept your challenge young avatar"

"Korra, don't take this the wrong way but you're terrible at Pai Sho" Asami said

"I know, when I said lets play I meant you can play for me and I can claim victory when you win" Korra laughed and Asami joined her soon after,

"now why would I do that? Maybe I'd like to see you lose for once" Asami raised an eyebrow jokingly,

"I can be your prize when you win, sound fair?" Korra said, Iroh looked over laughing. They played for hours, Iroh narrowly beating Asami in every game.

"I think it's time an old man should be going to bed, it's far too late already" Iroh laughed, soon letting out a loud yawn and arching his arms above him, stretching, "you're quite welcome to stay the night if you should want, I have a bed through there" he gestured to a doorway built into the wall in the kitchen, "I only have one though, I don't get many visitors come to stay other than prin- uh... lord Zuko"

"That sounds perfect Iroh, thank you." Korra said, Iroh nodded knowingly as he walked off through another hallway on the other side of the room. Korra and Asami headed into the other room, in the middle of the room was a large bed placed up against the back wall, the base made of rock with a mattress placed on top.

Asami got into bed as Korra sat on the edge taking off her boots, Asami led on her side staring at Korra's back and shoulders, she had always known that Korra was muscular but had never really looked before. She was hypnotised. Korra swivelled round onto the bed looking at Asami,

"guess I'm not the only one who likes to stare."

"That's not fair, it's completely different" Asami denied, crossing her arms and pouting jokingly.

"Oh come on, next time just don't be so obvious" Korra laughed, Asami reluctantly followed suit almost instantly. Korra turned to look at her, her stomach started flipping, a warm, fuzzy, happy feeling spreading throughout her body. Korra lifted herself up onto her knees and moved over to Asami, placing one of her legs over the other side of her and sitting on her stomach, she stared into Asami's eyes,

"Asami?"

"Yeah?" Korra leaned down, closing her eyes and leaning in until she met Asami's lips. Her head felt light and all thoughts faded. She stayed there for what felt like forever. Her mouth opening slightly to allow Asami to kiss her deeper. She lifted herself up, her lips coloured red from Asami's lipstick,

"I love you."


	5. Chapter 5 - The Meeting

**Chapter 5 – The Meeting**

A ray of the morning sun sneaked through a small hole between the two curtains, landing on Korra's face, she stirred, slowly and sleepily opening her eyes, holding up her arm to keep the light at bay. She rolled onto her left side to face Asami, who led on her side blissfully sleeping. Korra laid there just watching her sleep, admiring how even in the morning, no make up and messy hair, she was still the most beautiful thing she'd ever laid her eyes on. She moved her hand up to Asami's cheek, stroking it with her finger. Korra let out a small contented sigh "_how did I get so lucky? She's so amazing, she's so gorgeous"_ she thought to herself, "she's so.. perfect," a huge smile formed on her face.

"You're not so bad yourself" Asami said, eyes still closed. Korra gasped, looking almost petrified,

"Did I... say that out loud?" she blushed as her eyebrows both raised, an embarrassed look coming to her face, "sorry." Asami let out a small giggle as she lazily lifted her arm over Korra. She slowly opened her eyes and looked into Korra's. She moved her hand up toward Korra's face, noticing a stray hair. She gently moved the hair from in the way as Korra looked on, an innocent look in her eyes, her breathing becoming more shallow. Asami lightly placed her hand on Korra's cheek, slowly stroking it with her thumb. Korra's eyes closed as a look of ecstasy spread across her face. Asami moved in closer until her lips met Korra's own, opening slightly as they touched. Korra moved her hand up and placed it on top of Asami's.

Asami moved away, slowly sliding her hand off of Korra's cheek and swivelling around to the edge of the bed,

"what was that for?" Korra said happily as Asami stood up to go through the adjacent doorway to the bathroom, she turned back smiling,

"because I can." A joyous expression came to Korra's face as she placed her hands behind her head and slumped deeper into the bed. The sound of running water came from in the bathroom, as Korra attempted to drift off back to sleep,

"Korra, maybe you should come here and you know brush your teeth or something, we're going to have to be going soon, it's nearly noon, I think... time's hard to tell here." Korra groaned as she began to lazily drag herself out of bed and into the bathroom. In front of her as she walked in Asami leaned over the sink washing her face, Korra smirked as she quickly bended a small ball of water from the sink without the older woman noticing. Korra started to laugh as motioned upwards and held the water just above Asami's head. Asami turned around,

"What're you laughing at?" she questioned looking decidedly puzzled. Korra started to sport a goofy grin as she pointed above Asami's head to the water. Asami slowly tilted her head up,

"don't you-" Korra opened her palms, dropping the water on Asami's head, drenching her. Korra started to laugh as Asami looked over at her sternly, an almost angry expression on her face, "I can't believe you did that." The colour drained from Korra's face as she looked back at her, horrified,

"I...I.. I.. s-sorry" Korra stammered, an anxious look coming to her face, "I just.. I was.." Asami's angry facade cracked as she began to laugh almost hysterically. Korra shook her head, chuckling under her breath.

She and Asami continued getting ready for the day, Korra finishing almost instantly but intentionally taking as long as possible to finish getting ready to watch Asami, her heart skipping a beat every time she looked over.

"Come on, hurry up" Asami smiled as she began to walk down the corridor towards Iroh's kitchen. Korra began to hop around the room towards Asami as she walked, trying to get her boot on. She slid it on and ran down the corridor towards her, almost falling with the first step. She ran up to Asami, hugging her from behind and resting her head on her shoulder then turning to kiss her neck as they walked into the kitchen.

"Lord Zuko!" Asami exclaimed. Korra squirmed away uncomfortably, an anxious look on her face. Zuko looked down and laughed,

"I'm old not blind, now I see why the weather has been particularly nice this morning" he said as Korra began to smile, "its a pleasure to see you again Avatar Korra, Miss Sato." Korra and Asami both bowed to him, Zuko stood up from his seat at the table quickly following on. Iroh's voice came from the kitchen,

"Good morning you two, good nights sleep? Would you like some tea?"

"Yes please, We'd love some, thank you Iroh" Asami said as she and Korra moved towards the table and sat opposite Zuko.

"So Lord Zuko you don't seem too surprised.. by me and Asami I mean" Korra said looking at Zuko inquisitively

"Surprised? Why would I be surprised?" Zuko looked at her, confused,

"Well, it's just the only person we've told up to now is your uncle, I thought you'd be a bit more shocked" Korra said,

"I did not tell him, it would not be my place" Iroh shouted through from the kitchen,

"I'm not sure I understand, how could my uncle be the first to know, when we met at the Misty Palms Oasis I was sure and in Zaofu-" Korra and Asami looked at each other, puzzled.

"Wait you thought.. way back then?" Asami interrupted,

"Yes? I thought everyone knew"

"We weren't even... us.. back then" Korra said confusedly,

"Oh come on now, it was pretty obvious how you two felt about each other."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw how you two looked at each other and how you acted back then, especially when I saw you meditating as miss Sato watched over you, the way she looked at you, it reminded me of Aang and Katara when they were your age," Korra looked over at Asami smiling, Asami blushed bright red and smiled innocently.

"You get to know a lot about the Avatar, being best friends for all those years, I'd be a pretty lousy friend if I didn't know the 'in love' look now wouldn't I" Zuko chuckled quietly to himself, "There's more of him in you than you realise, even with Aang's spirit gone I can still see him in you,"

Korra looked down and smiled as a tear began to fall down her cheek, "so it doesn't bother you?" she looked up at Zuko anxiously,

"Why would it?" Zuko smiled warmly at her as Asami placed her arm around Korra, pulling her in closer, Korra tilted her head to rest it on Asami's shoulder. Iroh brought the tea through and placed the tray in the middle of the table, pouring 4 cups and passing them around to the four of them.

"Oh, I had actually been hoping to talk to the two of you after you'd dealt with Kuvira, when I was told about your little vacation I was going to wait until you got back but since you're here... I need you to arrange a meeting for when you come back home" Zuko said looking at the two women, taking a sip of his tea.

"A meeting? With who? And why?" Asami inquired,

"Izumi and I had been talking for a long time, since you began construction on the high speed rail system between republic city and the earth kingdom" he looked over at Asami, "we wanted to ask you about the possibility of creating an underground rail system that could link the fire nation to republic city and the earth kingdom and also between the southern and northern water tribes and maybe even the air temples, does that sound possible?"

"I would think that it would be possible, it's just a question of putting it into practice" Asami said, bringing her hand up to her chin and thinking of possible ways to enact Lord Zuko's plan.

"We would need your expertise and Future Industries for such a project, the system in the Earth Kingdom is a perfect example of what we want. I was going to ask Mr Varrick for his assistance but I would prefer someone I know personally, obviously only after you've had time to help the reconstruction of republic city."

"It would be our pleasure" Asami said excitedly, "Future Industries would be honoured to help in any way possible."

Zuko looked back to Korra, "do you think you could talk to your father and Chiefs Desna and Eska about the water tribes interest in this?" Korra nodded,

"I'm sure they'd be happy to be part of it"

"And when you get back to Republic City would it be possible for you to speak to Tenzin and President Raiko about the United Republic and Air Nations interest? I would do it myself but I think having the Avatar as the representative of world unity seems... fitting" he smiled.

Asami and Zuko sat for hours talking about the possible applications of building their International Monorail System or IMS as they called it, Korra sat watching Asami for a while, fascinated, but after a while could no longer keep up with all the technical language being used by both her and Zuko. While Asami and Zuko spoke Korra and Iroh talked at length about the battle with Kuvira and the formation of the spirit portal, Korra recounting every moment and Iroh astounded by the sheer power Korra had shown forming the portal.

"Korra" Asami nudged her, interrupting her conversation with Iroh, "we should really get going, it's going to be dark before we leave otherwise." Korra nodded,

"I suppose" Korra looked over to Iroh, "I am sorry Iroh, but I think it's time we should be going,"

"I am glad to have had your company for this time Avatar Korra, Miss Sato." The old man smiled warmly, "Please come back soon." they both smiled at him as Korra looked over to Zuko,

"Thank you, Lord Zuko"

"What for?" he said, a warm tone in his voice.

"For being so supportive, it... it really means a lot coming from you." She turned, throwing her bag on her back as Asami opened the front door, she turned around quickly "before we go, I'd just like to ask you a question."

"Anything Avatar Korra"

"Do you think Aang... would be... happy" she rubbed her arm nervously and looked down, "with me" Zuko stood up and walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders,

"Korra." she looked up to meet his gaze, Zuko smiled lovingly "I have no doubt that Aang would be so proud of everything you've done, you accomplished everything Aang ever dreamt of and more. I'm sure that if he were here right now, he'd hug you and never let go. Would he be happy? no. I don't think there is a word to describe how he would feel about you. He would be overjoyed at everything you've done and so proud of you both as a young woman.. and as the Avatar."

"Thank you" she smiled as she moved over towards the door again

"We'll see you soon, Lord Zuko" Asami said, "we'll contact you and the Fire Lord when we've set up the meeting" Zuko nodded as Korra and Asami turned around and grasped each other's hands walking into the field in front of Iroh's house. Zuko and Iroh moved to just outside the door to watch the two leave. Iroh looked over at his nephew smiling, nudging him with his elbow,

"Their love is like a blossoming panda lilly beginning life in the crater of a volcano, it may have difficulty taking root but once it does it's beauty is truly unmatched"

Zuko looked on at them seriously, "and it grows gravely ignorant of the danger it brings upon itself."


	6. Chapter 6 - Heart To Heart

**Chapter 6 – Heart To Heart**

The moon light shone down through a hole in the canopy. The two women sat in a small clearing in the woods, surrounded by trees. Asami sat on the floor watching Korra building a fire in front of her, her knees up and her arms stretched around them, hugging them tightly. Korra placed the last of the sticks in the circle,

"Stand back, I'm gonna light it" Korra took a step back from the pile and stood arm extended towards it, fist clenched. She quickly flicked her forefinger and middle finger out towards it, a small ball of fire extended from her fingers, quickly flying towards the wood, the flames quickly rose as the fire hit the sticks. Asami squirmed further back, an almost horrified expression on her face, her mouth fell agape as she gasped deeply and her pupils swelled as she opened her eyes wide, her green eyes reflecting the orange flickering light of the fire, the unease painted within them. Korra sat down on the ground closer to the fire, a few feet away from Asami. Asami slowly edged closer to Korra eventually settling on her left side just slightly behind her, almost hiding. She grabbed Korra's arm with one hand, wrapping the other around it. She rested her head on Korra's arm, closing her eyes. Korra looked to her "_she's so beautiful, so amazing," _a goofy grin came to her face,

"You ok?"

"mmhmm" Asami said, letting out a small comforted sigh. She opened her eyes, looking at the fire, she took a deep breath and stared forward. "Korra?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something? It's kinda stupid but..." she trailed off.

"Anything" Korra said looking back to her, Asami tilted her head up slightly to meet Korra's gaze, still leaning on her arm.

"When did you first... you know... know, that you liked me?"

"Honestly, I don't know" Korra said worriedly, turning to Asami with an anxious look.

"Oh, ok"

"I... I think it might have been after Zaheer, I just don't think I realised it then, it seemed so strange to me, I'd never looked at another woman like that before. I... you, you were the only one really there for me after what happened." She paused looking down then to Asami's eyes, gazing up from leaning on her arm, an inquisitive yet loving look in them. "You helped me after everything that happened, you were the only one who didn't care that I couldn't be the Avatar, you actually cared about me getting better for myself, not just for everyone else's good. I... I.. I don't think I would've gotten through that without you." A tear rolled down her cheek. "I... I..." her breathing became more erratic as she began to cry, looking away, down to the floor. "I love you Asami... I love you so much" she wiped her eyes and looked back at the older woman who looked up at her lovingly, "y.. you know that right?" Asami sat up looking into Korra's eyes, placing her hand on her cheek as a tear fell from Korra's eye, she wiped it away with her thumb. She leaned in slowly until their lips met.

"I know, I love you too" she smiled.

"I'm sorry for not letting you come to the south pole with me, I wanted you there more than anything but I knew you'd be better off in Republic City. I.. I didn't want to be a burden. When I was there I missed you so much it ached, it felt like a piece of me was gone." she took a deep breath, "that's when I knew for sure, that's when I knew I loved you. I.. when you wrote to me and I couldn't reply, I felt awful, I felt wrong that I couldn't bring myself to do it for so long. I didn't know what to say and the more I left it the more I thought you'd be better off without me but I couldn't do it, I needed you, knowing you were here... waiting.. for me, that's what got me through." Asami looked into Korra's eyes,

"I'll always be here for you Korra, I love you" Korra smiled as Asami sunk back down leaning on her arm again, "it's nice to know when you started to realise how amazing I am" she said jokingly.

"Oh no that happened way before then" Asami looked up confused as Korra nervously rubbed the back of her neck, an anxious grin coming to her face, "_why did I say that, I'm so stupid." _Asami's eyes pleaded, go on; Korra acknowledged this, sighing she reluctantly continued, "I mean I always thought you were so amazing from the moment I met you. When I first saw you with Mako I was a little.." her voice quietened, "jealous"

"Wait, what was that?"

"I was..." Korra sighed as Asami looked on at her, "jealous, of you," Asami's eyes opened wide, her face mixed with equal measures of shock and confusion, "you were so perfect, you were... everything I wished I could be. You were effortlessly beautiful , you were smart, you were free to do what you wanted, you were elegant, rich, adored, confident and I was... not that." she looked down disheartened, "and you had Mako" she laughed.

"Oh, you mean you were jealous of me and my boyfriend, who you stole from me... twice" Asami teased, raising an eyebrow facetiously, they both laughed a little. "But I still don't understand, you were jealous? Of me? Why? You're the most amazing person I've ever met."

Korra let out a small fake laugh, "I'm serious" she put her finger under Korra's chin, lifting her head up to look in her eyes, "you're the most caring, sweet, selfless person in the world, you're amazing Korra. I remember the exact moment I knew how I felt about you, when you gave yourself up to Zaheer I was so worried, so scared that you wouldn't be ok." she looked at the floor, "I... it felt horrible. Then when he took you I couldn't describe how I felt... empty, broken. And when you fought him it felt awful seeing you like that, raw, emotional, not yourself, I felt so powerless watching you in so much pain and not being able to do anything to help you or to stop him and then... when you fell..." Her voice became higher as a tear dripped from Asami's face onto the floor and she looked up into Korra's eyes, "I.. I stood there" her voice started to shake as she sobbed, "watching you... d.. die, I... I couldn't do anything, why couldn't I do anything Korra!?" she wailed, "you were dying! And I... I..." her voice became almost akin to a shriek as her throat blocked the remainder of the words from escaping, Korra wrapped her arms around the older woman as she sobbed, pulling her head in closer to rest on her chest and gently stroking her hair.

"It's ok Asami, I'm ok" Asami's breathing started to become slower with Korra's embrace, a feeling of safety and care washed over her. "You saved me Asami, I would never have gotten through without you." Asami moved up and rested her head on Korra's shoulder, throwing her arms around her. She let out a small whimper, obviously trying to speak but no words would come. They stayed like that for what felt like eternity.

Asami pulled away cautiously and turned slowly around to face Korra, who quickly followed on.

"While you were gone... I was so scared. I was scared you wouldn't get better, I was scared that you'd give up, I was terrified that I'd never see you again. It felt like someone had ripped a piece out of me, like I wasn't whole without you, like I wasn't myself. It was three years Korra, you were gone for three years, three years of waking up every morning wishing that you'd come home and three years of going to bed every night missing you so much it would ache. It was three years of crying at the thought of not seeing you again. I didn't see you once for all that time and no amount of letters would ever change that." She looked over at Korra, an almost resentful expression on her face. ready to shout. As she looked over she saw Korra looking down, an obvious look of dejection encasing her. Asami's eyes were pulled open by her rising eyebrows and her mouth fell open wide as she looked on at korra equally shocked and disgusted at her own reaction, "_I can't believe I said that. Why did I say that? It wasn't her fault. If she could've come back I know she would have, she's gone throught enough without me doing something like that making it worse. Spirits, what am I doing?" _Asami scorned herself, "and it was three years for me to realise what I wanted" she grabbed Korra's hand, "who I wanted." Korra lifted her head up and Asami looked back a loving smile on her face, "that time made me realise how much I loved you, Korra, how desperately I needed you and how empty I felt without you." Korra looked on, now smiling. "When I saw you the first time when you came back it was the first time I'd felt... right, for three years. I remember waking up that day realising I didn't have to wish any more and I broke down crying, I was so happy for the first time in so long. When I saw you it felt like someone had lit my heart on fire and kicked me in the stomach. It was so hard to not run over to you, hug you and never let go and kiss you in front of everyone" Korra blushed and gave an embarrassed giggle, sweeping some hair behind her ear nervously.

"I had a similar thought, I just wanted to pin you to the floor and kiss you over and over again but I was so nervous that you'd hate me for being away so long and because I never dreamed that you would feel the same way. You came over looking so gorgeous, so amazing, I never thought I could miss seeing someone so much, I wish I could stay in that moment forever, you were so perfect. My mind went completely blank, all I could think to complement you was snazzy, I felt so stupid" she laughed shaking her head slightly, closing her eyes as she did, "who says snazzy?" Asami leaped forward, her hands pushing down Korra's shoulders onto the floor. She lay on top of her, her head on Korra's chest. She then propped herself up with her hands staring down affectionately into Korra's eyes, leaning down slowly until their lips met, she stayed there for a few seconds eventually pulling away for a second,

"I think you're snazzy too." She quickly leaned back down.


	7. Chapter 7 - From The Trees

**Chapter 7 – From The Trees**

Korra rolled over onto her side letting out a small groan as she tiredly pulled her eyes open slightly, quickly holding her hand up to block out the morning sun. Asami sat next to a small fire opposite Korra, in front of a pan of boiling water, cooking.

"Finally awake?" Korra let out a small moan as Asami laughed. "come on I made breakfast"

"mmmm...oohkaayyhh" Korra rolled back onto her back, her head hitting the pillow. Asami laughed,

"Korra" she said lovingly a small smile coming to her face as she shook her head, attempting to encourage the younger woman to move. Korra let out another sleepy groan as she lazily waved her arm at Asami. Asami stood up and walked over. Korra felt a weight on her stomach as Asami sat on her, slowly leaning down to her ear, "Korra, wake up" she whispered almost sensually, moving her lips down to Korra's jaw and kissing it. Korra let out a euphoric sigh, smiling. Asami rolled off her, standing up and walking back over to the fire. "come on, before it burns."

Korra got up and dressed herself almost immediately and the two of them sat around the fire eating their breakfast. After eating Korra walked about 10 feet away from the fire and bended up a small rock to sit on. She then bended some water out of the pan, hastily washing it and the two bowls while Asami began to pack up their camp. Korra placed her elbows on her knees and her head on top of her hands staring over at Asami _"just look at her" _she smiled and let out a small sigh.

"You're staring again" Asami said, teasing, while rolling up their sleeping bag and stuffing it into her bag. Korra quickly sat up straight, blushing,

"N- no I'm not, I'm just uhm.. practising my uhm airbending" Korra clasped her hands together, twisting her top hand clockwise and the bottom the opposite way, slowly pulling them apart as she did it. A small twisting column of air appeared in her palm "see!" she said anxiously, attempting to sound convincing, quickly beaming a huge smile over towards her girlfriend.

"Of course you were" Asami said, dubiously looking over at Korra shaking her head slightly and beginning to giggle to herself quietly. She looked back down and continued to pack up their things as Korra slumped back down, placing her head on her hands and sighing contently continuing to stare. The slight overcast clouds retreated as the sun shone down brightly onto their camp. Asami laughed, "good to see you're in a good mood"

"What? How?" Korra looked up to see the sun beaming down on them "dammit spirit world" she laughed and Asami followed soon after looking round at Korra confusedly,

"So, what are you so happy about?" Asami asked raising an eyebrow,

"Just the usual you know"

"and that is" Asami giggled. Korra paused, blushing,

"just you know... how lucky I am, how perfect you are." Korra said.

"awhh, you're so cute" Asami smiled, "but flattery will get you nowhere sweetie"

"Sweetie?" Korra said looking at Asami with a puzzled look on her face. Asami finished packing away their things and threw her bag on her back. Asami nodded,

"mmhmm" Korra looked over attempting an annoyed expression but Asami raised her eyebrows, smiling. Korra sighed as she reluctantly let a small smile form on her face and quietly laughing.

"Ok, honey" Korra said jokingly, trying to elicit some reaction from her girlfriend, but to no avail. She stood, throwing her bag on her back. "lets get going" she extended both her arms towards the rocks surrounding the fire, still ablaze. She swept both her arms together pulling the rocks all into the centre of the flame, extinguishing it. They began walking away from their camp and back through the forest as Asami reached her hand out to grab Korra's, interlocking their fingers. Korra looked down at their clasped hands and smiled joyously as they ventured slowly into the woods.

After a few hours walking they came to a small river cutting through the tree line and covering the path they walked on. Korra extended her arms, opening her palms and pushed her right leg forward towards the water. She then clenched her fists as the water solidified into a thick ice bridge connecting the path to the other side of the river. The two women walked down toward the water. The leaves of the trees rustled behind them and Korra turned to look, a determined yet confused expression on her face as her eyes narrowed.

"Something wrong" Asami questioned, turning to look at Korra. Korra's eyebrows furrowed as her eyes darted each way, inspecting the thickets either side of the path,

"Nothing, I just... it's nothing" she turned around to face Asami, "it's fine, lets go" she smiled.

They both turned towards the water. The two women stepped onto the bridge, beginning to walk across. The trees shook violently as numerous large spirits jumped down onto the path. Four spirits, reminiscent of large lions, jumped out from behind the bushes. They all hastily surrounded the two women, the lion spirits growling angrily, looking ready to attack. Asami moved back, slightly hiding behind Korra, reaching backward into her bag for her electric glove,

"Spirits, please remain calm, I'm the Avatar an..." one of the lion spirits launched itself forward towards the women, Korra jumped backwards, knocking Asami to the ground as she threw a fire punch at the spirit. Asami gasped, a horrified look coming to her face. "Spirits! Calm down! I don't want to fight you!"

All the spirits flung themselves toward Korra. She curled up her arms into her body, crouching down quickly then quickly extending all her limbs outward creating a ball of air around her. It instantly expanded throwing the spirits back away from her. Few of the bodies hit the trees surrounding them. One lion spirit pushed itself back to its feet running angrily at Korra, she lifted up her leg stomping it down to create an earth barrier in front of it. More of the spirits came back at Korra in waves, just as one was dispatched another attacked her instantly.

"Korra!" Asami yelled squirming backwards on the floor as one of the lion spirits approached her, snarling. It dug in its heels, getting ready to pounce onto her.

"Asami!" Korra yelled, relentlessly punching and kicking fire towards the lion spirit, moving quickly towards Asami. Asami's eyes squeezed shut as she let out a faint high pitched almost squeal, her voice shaking with fear, scrambling backward until her back pushed against a tree at the side of the path. The lion leaped towards Asami, opening it's jaws wide,

"NOOO!" Korra screamed, her eyes slightly illuminating. A rock shot up underneath her and launched her at the spirit, "DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" her voice deepened as her eyes glowed fiery white, the rage encased her as she frowned intently, her brow almost painfully furrowing. She tucked her legs into her body whilst flying through the air, aggressively extending them from her body immediately after getting over the lion. A huge jet of flame extended from her feet into the spirits face, lifting her up slightly in the air as she drove a forceful punch downward. A powerful sonic boom rippled from her fist driving the spirit violently into the floor before she landed between it and Asami. She ground in front of her was ablaze in a manner befitting of the Fire Lords chamber, as she breathed more and more violently the flames raised and fell with her breath.

"DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH HER!" Korra shouted angrily. Behind her Asami cowered up against the tree, her eyes fixed on Korra, looking on in terror. Her eyes shook with fear as tears began to fall. Korra screamed angrily, extending her arms to her side and sweeping them inward until they clapped together, the line of fire pushed forward toward the remaining spirits as they ran away down back toward the river. Korra swirled her arms around in a circular motion forming a large ball of air around the spirits, she lifted her arms slowly, compressing the ball, pushing the spirits together over the river. She waved her arms upwards as two streams of water slowly emerged from the river twisting around the ball of air. The spirits began to glow yellow, in unison with the streams' climbing golden luminance, as they turned to dust, calmly floating away on the breeze. She moved her hands together until the touched in front of her chest as she closed her eyes, her breathing slowed and a look of tranquillity slowly replaced the rage. Her eyes opened, the last remnants of the glow fading.

"Asami, are you ok?" Korra asked, crouching down to look into her eyes. Asami looked away. "Asami?" she moved her hand to grab Asami's, Asami jerked her hand quickly away. "Asami?" Korra pleaded for an answer. Asami hesitantly stood up, her head pointed firmly at the floor. Korra again reached her hand out to grab Asami's,

"don't..." Asami mumbled. Korra looked at her puzzled.

"Asami I..." she reached her hand out to place it on the other girls arm, Asami quickly swiped her hand across her, slapping Korra's hand away,

"Don't. Touch. Me" she said quietly, yet assertively, walking back down the path, towards the river. Korra looked on at her, her mixture of sadness and confusion reflected in her expression.

"Asami?!" Korra ran after her stopping in front of her, Asami looked down "what's wrong? Are you ok?"

"Nothing. I'm perfectly fine." she said sternly, "now move out of my way." Asami pushed past Korra, hitting their shoulders together as she barged through. As she carried on walking down the path her face was still firmly pointed at the floor.

A tear crawled down her cheek, leaving a thin black trail behind. It dripped off her chin onto her boots, she swallowed the growing lump in her throat in an attempt to keep her inward cries at bay. She inhaled deeply, her breath shaking slightly _"Keep it together Asami, it's been 16 years, it's not her fault. You can't take it out on her."_ She exhaled calmly, bringing her hand up and wiping the tears from her eyes_ "It's not her fault."_


	8. Chapter 8 - The Fear

**Chapter 8 – The Fear**

"Asami!" Korra shouted, rooted to the spot. She stared on at her girlfriend, her boots stomping the ground and her body rigid as she walked. "Asami! Wait! where are you going?" Asami completely ignored Korra's continued shouts. Korra looked on, a gloomily disheartened look in her eyes. _"what did I do? Think Korra, think. I let that spirit get too close, it hurt her I know it. I'm such an idiot, why do I always have to ruin everything?" _

Korra silently followed Asami along the path for what felt like forever, heartbreaking silence filling the air for the entire time, save for the occasional shout by Korra. Korra's feet slid lazily along the ground as she walked, her head pointed at her feet and her heart feeling as though it had sunk just as deep. They eventually came to a small clearing, Asami stopped, reaching her arm back into her bag and pulling out the sleeping bag the two of them had been using. She waved it in the air and laid it down on the floor, instantly laying down inside it, rolling onto her side to face away from Korra. Korra looked over longingly at her _"she doesn't want me over there, why would she? how could she?"_. She reached into her own bag to grab the sleeping bag she had used on the first night of their vacation but found it empty. She slung the bag off of her shoulder and peered inside, finding no trace of it _"what? Where is it?" _she scratched her head, attempting to think of where she could have left it, she sighed "Iroh's house" she muttered as she rubbed her eyes with her finger and thumb. "How did I not notice?" she looked around for a spot to sleep eventually settling upon leaning against a tree a few feet behind Asami's head.

"Goodnight Asami" she she said lovingly, despite sadness still being prevalent in her voice, she closed her eyes almost despairingly for a moment, her eyes beginning to fill with water, remaining as strong as she possibly could, never allowing a tear to fall, her voice cracked "I love you." Asami remained silent, every muscle of her body pushing her to cry out a response but she didn't give in. A faint whimper escaped as her resolve began to crack, it was still too quiet to be audible to Korra, she slapped her hand over her mouth. Korra waited for a response but none came, she closed her eyes almost despairingly, a lump in her throat and began to drift off to sleep.

The moon shone down through the trees onto Korra as she stirred in her sleep. Her eyes crept open sleepily, her ears stabbed by agonizing cries. She sat up straight, her back against the tree she had been sleeping on and opening her eyes to search for the source of the noise. Directly ahead of her she saw Asami sat up, her knees pressed against her chest and her arms resting across them. Her head placed down on her arms as she violently jerked with her erratic breathing, her wailing becoming almost inaudible from the pain. Seeing her like this was excruciating to Korra, her wails of pain piercing her heart, the feeling of seeing Asami this sad was completely alien, she'd always been so strong, Korra had never seen her this sorrowful.

She stood up and sheepishly walked towards her, sitting down beside her, Asami still unaware of her presence, Korra looked at her nervously _"should I? Does she want me here?" _she slowly, anxiously brought her arms around her, pulling her in close "it's ok Asami, I'm sorry, it won't happen again, I'll never put you in danger again"

"How could you do that Korra?!" she snapped, quickly moving her head up from her hands and scowling a Korra, Korra pulled her arms away and backed away from her. "You bended at me, you were in the avatar state. Y.. you weren't you, you scared me."

"I...I.. I'm sorry"

"It's not just that. It's not your fault, it's just I... I..." her throat seized up. Korra moved back toward Asami, kneeling in front of her,

"'Sami?" she said lovingly, "Tell me" she smiled.

"It's just... I... you..." she looked down. "My mom" Korra looked at her confusedly,

"Your.. your mom?" a look of enlightenment spread across her face,

"It was me wasn't it. The fire bending."

"It's not your fault. It's just... ever since.. he did that to her... I was scared, so so scared. He killed her Korra!" her eyes began to well up once again, "right in front of me! He slaughtered her right in front of me! I was just a kid!" she wailed "I heard noises so I ran to her room. I remember she was stood there backed up in the corner." a faint squeal escaped from her mouth, "She was terrified! He walked towards her with the fire in his hand and then..." she swallowed a lump in her throat as the tears streamed yet again down her cheeks "and then" her voice cracked "he grabbed her by the neck" the agony she felt at reliving the moment apparent in her voice "and he pushed her against the wall, she screamed" her chest began to seize up as she cried "she punched him in the face and ran over towards me to get me away so he slashed the fire at her, she fell to the floor right in front of me. He looked over at her on the floor and he laughed. HE LAUGHED! She was so afraid, he killed her Korra, do you know what it's like to watch the person you love most in the world dying in so much pain in front of you" she looked up into Korra's eyes, her wailing lessening to simple tears "I could see her crying, in so much pain that she couldn't even scream, I could see her back all black and charred, she reached out to me and grabbed my hand, she whispered I love you. That was the last thing she ever said to me. I just.. I..." Korra flung her arms around her girlfriends neck, embracing her,

"It's ok Asami, it's ok" Asami moved away, placing her hand on Korra's and looking down at the ground,

"I'm sorry for being mad at you before it's just seeing you like that, fire bending toward me and so angry reminded me of him."

"Asami? Please don't be sorry" she smiled "you have every right to hate fire benders for what he did to your mother, but you don't, that's one of the reasons I love you, you don't let anything change who you really are, no matter how bad. Not only do you not hate benders for what happened to your mother you're dating the Avatar, not to big my self up but I'm kinda the ultimate bender" Korra said jokingly attempting to lighten the mood, Asami smiled slightly, letting out a small laugh

"It's not just bending, it's fire." she looked down, "It scares me. I hate it, I hate it so much, it's just destruction and pain."

"I can help," Korra inquired as she squeezed Asami's hand softly, "if.. if you want" Asami looked into Korra's eyes a genuine, intrigued look in her own,

"How?"

"Let me show you" she smiled tenderly, she shuffled around on the floor to behind Asami, placing her legs either side of her and bringing her arms around her stomach and opening her palms facing upwards and sparking up a small flame. Asami squirmed backwards, an uncomfortable look on her face.

"It's ok, it's all under control" she clenched her fist and put the fire out "see?" Asami nodded as Korra sparked it back up.

"Fire is only dangerous when it's not controlled properly." Asami put her hand up in front of the fire apprehensively, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Lord Zuko told me of when he and Aang met Ran and Shaw, the last dragons of their era and they showed them the truth about fire bending, they breathed a giant column of fire around him and Aang, he said it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, thousands of different colours, some he'd never even imagined before. He told me that they taught him that fire bending used to be about beauty and love until his ancestors corrupted it to be about hatred and anger." Korra threw the fire into one of her hands while moving her other up to Asami's cheek and moving her head to face her, "real fire bending doesn't come from anger or hatred it comes from love. And I love you so much Asami"

Korra moved her hand back round to the front of Asami, resting the flame between her two hands, swelling it up. Asami looked down at it, a slightly fearful look in her eyes. "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you" Asami took another deep breath and looked on at the fire as Korra slowly raised her hands up above her head, eventually moving them apart and back down to her side. The fireball rose into the air and expanded, all different colours weaving through it in a ball. The fire began to dissipate into golden dust which danced away on the wind.

"Thank you Korra. I feel better, I feel lighter" she yawned, "I think I'm ready to go back to sleep now" Korra looked down, disheartened as she moved from behind Asami and stood up to go back to the tree she was sleeping on before. Asami looked confused "Korra? where're you going?"

Korra turned around, puzzled "Uhm... back to sleep?"

"Over there?" Asami questioned, she smiled lovingly "come here."

Korra smiled wide and walked back over laying down next to her. Asami rolled onto her side and Korra placed her arm over her, "I'll never let anything hurt you Asami. I love you so much." They both closed their eyes and began to go to sleep,

"Korra?"

"mhm"

"I'm sorry about today, I love you"


	9. Chapter 9 - Taken

**Chapter 9 – Taken**

The moonlight shone down on Korra and Asami as they slept. Korra lay slightly over Asami, her arm draped over her and her leg on top of her. Korra stirred lazily, rolling over onto her back away from her girlfriend. The bushes around them rustled as a shadow emerged from behind them, the twisting figure crawling closer to the women, it's thin needle pointed legs digging into the ground as it scuttled forward, walking around the women, inspecting them. The bottom of it's eerie white face showed a grin exposed by a small ray of moonlight. The eight pincers in front of its face stabbed through Asami's shirt, then proceeding to drag her out from inside the sleeping bag. It released Asami's shirt, sliding it's pincers under her softly, then pulling down its top pincers. Asami groaned, moving slightly but never awaking. The creature lifted her off the ground and turned around back toward the bushes, the moonlight shone on Asami, cradled in the jaws of the creature's pincers, it blinked as a wave of brown hair cascaded down over Asami. An woman's laugh could be heard as the creature scurried hastily into the darkness.

Korra moaned lazily as she awoke, rolling over to greet her girlfriend good morning. She lifted her arm up and forward in order to hug Asami, her arm came down expecting to contact a body any second eventually hitting the ground. Korra opened her eyes, a confused look on her face as she sat up quickly scanning the surroundings for any sign of Asami, the morning sun just peaked over the horizon, slowly rising. Asami's usual clothes were laid on the floor and her bag thrown over away from their sleeping bag. Korra let out a huge yawn and scratched her head _"she must have gone to get washed up or put on her make up or something. It's early, I guess I can have 5 more minutes while she finishes." _Korra fell down onto her back, falling down onto the pillow. She wriggled down into the sleeping bag, rolling onto her side and pulling the cover in close, tightly over her.

Her eyes opened lazily as she lifted her hand up in front of her face to keep the brightness of the sun at bay, it flew overhead, high in the sky, it had obviously been a few hours since Korra awoke the first time. Korra sat up, squinting her eyes and looking around for any sign of Asami but everything was as it was before. "Asami?" she enquired. No answer came. Korra stood up becoming increasingly worried with every passing second. Grey clouds began to swirl in the sky as Korra paced around their camp and through the surrounding trees searching for Asami. "Asami!" she felt the dull throbbing nervousness, _"what did I do? Where's she gone? I thought everything was ok after last night. Why would she leave?" _Korra continued searching each moment becoming a little more desperate and a little more frantic. Her eyes widened, thinning again almost instantly as she turned to look back at Asami's things, a puzzled look on her face _"and if she left why would she not take her stuff with her?"_ Korra walked over to Asami's bag then lifting it up in one hand and searching around inside to check if she had taken anything with her,_ "makeup, food, clothes..." _Korra checked through, finding nothing out of place.

"There she is!" a familiar squeaky voice yelled. Korra looked around confused, seeing no one there. "Whoa! Whoa! Slow down!" A loud smack echoed through the trees around the camp as the sound of leaves being torn through came from behind Korra. "Ow, ow, ouch, why did you do that? I told you to slow down."

"You said she was here so I brought us down, ok?"

Korra smiled at the sound of the voice, turning around to face the direction the noise came from. A small green spirit emerged through the bushes, a relatively small bird spirit lagging slightly behind,

"Avatar!" The green spirit yelled as he bounced on the spot excitedly. He extended his arms running over to Korra as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, nearly tripping multiple times along the way. Korra knelt down on one knee holding out her arms, the spirit jumped into her and swung his stubby arms around her stomach and burying his head.

"It's good to see you too Shiju" Korra smiled warmly, "but what are you doing here?"

"I..." Shiju began, the bird spirit swooped in front of him, lifting it's wing in front of his face.

"We're here to help, Avatar Korra" the spirit bowed, "it is my honour to be in your presence"

"Quit kissing up to her Zhidao. We know where Asami is! And we're gonna take you to her! Isn't that great!" Shiju beamed a huge smile at Korra, who in turn gave a small grin back, her grin quickly turned to almost a frown _"so she did leave."_

"I... thanks but if she's left me she has a good reason, I don't want to annoy her, if she doesn't want to be around me I'll just... I don't know, go home" Korra looked down at the ground.

"Avatar, your love did not leave you" Korra looked up at Zhidao, "she was taken"

"What! By who!?" Korra stood up, looking down angrily at the bird spirit, her brow furrowed as she clenched her fists tightly. "where is she!" Black clouds formed overhead and thunder could be heard in the distance

"Avatar, please remain calm, we're here to help you find her, but we can't do that with you affecting our minds... calm down" the spirits voice was soothing to Korra, she felt her anger almost melt away.

"I'm sorry, I just... please take me to her" Korra said sadly, her voice becoming higher with each word.

"It would be my pleasure."

"Just let me grab our things" Korra quickly stuffed all of their belongings into her own and Asami's bags, then throwing one on each shoulder. "Okay, lets go"

Zhidao raised his wing, gesturing towards a small thin path through the trees as he turned, flapped his wings and slowly glided towards the path. Korra began to follow but felt a small tug on the bottom of her pants. She looked down seeing Shiju looking up at her enquiringly

"Can I.. uhm.." he jumped up at Korra and she giggled slightly,

"You want me to carry you?" Shiju looked up and nodded.

"I'll get left behind otherwise, I'm not fast enough to keep up." Korra smiled lovingly down at the small spirit, twisting her foot to slowly bring up the ground under him to her shoulder height,

"Climb on" Korra leaned down to just below the platform, allowing him to clamber down onto her shoulder, immediately sitting down and swinging his short stubby legs playfully. "We wouldn't leave you behind"

"Thanks Avatar"

"Shiju, we're friends, stop with the Avatar stuff, just call me Korra"

"We...we're friends?"

"Of course we are" She smiled at him and he returned the favour shortly after as they set off to follow Zhidao down the path to Asami.

After a while of walking the trees along side the path gradually became more and more thin and black, the previously luscious canopy now completely barren. Korra's stomach twisted and turned like the branches of the trees and her heart ached with a dull throb making grey clouds swirl overhead.

"Ava- Korra?" Shiju said, a sickly tone in his voice, "I don't feel good... are you ok?"

"Sorry" Korra looked at Shiju, moving her hand up to rub the back of his head, "I'm just worried, what if she's not ok? what if they're not where we're going? What if she's hurt? What if.." Shiju stood up on her shoulder and slid down onto her chest, throwing his arms around her neck, embracing her. Korra stopped walking and brought her arms up to him, placing them both on his back and pulling him in close,

"It's going to be ok, Avatar" he whispered, "I promise, she's going to be ok" Korra swallowed a lump in her throat and smiled.

"It's going to be ok" Korra repeated placing her hands around Shiju and lifting him up in front of her, "Thank you, I... I needed that"

"That's what friends do" he let a wide grin form on his face. They continued walking, following Zhidao's lead but Korra stopped almost instantly, a slightly confused look on her face,

"How did you saw you knew where Asami is again?" she asked. Zhidao turned and hovered a few feet in front of Korra,

"I was flying over here last night and I saw a human woman being carried down this path by a huge spirit, it seemed strange so I followed them, I couldn't get too close to try to help because I couldn't have done anything, I'm not much of a fighter. I tried to find out where it was taking her. I thought it would be better to find you and get you to help her since Shiju mentioned that you were here." he landed, bowing his head, "I beg your forgiveness, had I known she was your companion I would have searched you out immediately"

"It's ok, you did all you could"

Zhidao turned his head around, looking behind himself to see a large dead tree in the centre of a large barren plain. "It appears we have reached our destination" Korra walked to the end of the path and stared at the tree determinedly, "underneath this tree there is a cave, I have never met the spirit who lives there and, if the stories are true, I would never want to" Zhidao flew up to Korra's head height, "good luck Avatar"

Korra's eyes narrowed as she focused on the small hole almost hidden under a large root poking out above the ground. She walked toward the cave, stopping just outside and lifting Shiju off of her shoulder placing him on the floor, "stay here buddy, I don't want you getting hurt, I'll be right back. Just... try not to hurt yourself while I'm gone."

As she walked slowly into the cave Raava's voice echoed in her head _"Korra, be careful here, I don't know what exactly is in here but it feels... strange... it feels... powerful"_

"I will, don't worry" Korra said, walking down into the darkness. She lifted up her hand and flicked out her fingers, a small flame coming to life in her palm. Korra looked around cautiously. An eerie scuttling noise came from behind her. Korra turned. Nothing. She turned back around and continued deeper into the cave. The scuttling returned, although this time more quietly. A blank white face peered over Korra's shoulder. It's eerie voice echoed throughout the cave as it spoke,

"Well hello there Avatar" it quickly dashed around to face Korra, "I've been expecting you" Korra's eyes widened as she allowed all expression to drain from her face, her stomach flipping with nervousness.

"Koh"


	10. Chapter 10 - An Old Foe

**Chapter 10 – An Old Foe**

An eerie grin formed on his face. Korra felt a chill run down her spine as his gaze pierced through her like a dagger.

"So you know who I am, that is good" he began circling around her in up and across the walls and ceiling of the cave. "I'm glad you haven't forgotten me in the past 80 years. So tell me, what brings the 'great and powerful avatar' to see me?"

Korra felt the rage begin to flow through her "You know exactly why I'm here" she said loudly, holding herself back from displaying her internal anger. Koh let out an amused chuckle as he blinked, his face switching to that of a fire nation nobleman,

"Ah yes, you have come to reclaim that which is yours, correct? But I think we have something of a dilemma in that, you obviously enjoy her but you see I think she would look better immortalised in my collection, don't you agree?" he stopped circling and moved in front of Korra, staring into her eyes. Korra's blood burned hotter that the brightest flame, every muscle in her body tensing up with pure rage,

"Where. Is. She?" she growled, fighting intensely within herself to refrain from reaching out and beating the spirit to a pulp then and there. His face turned back to a white mask as he laughed, continuing to stare into her eyes,

"You know Avatar she told me you would come, she told me you would 'rescue' her. That is of course after she tried to escape herself, she may be quite the fighter in the physical world but here... well" he laughed again "she cried, she wailed for you, she screamed in pain for you but you never came" Korra's heart sank as her eyes began to well up, she fought to keep her face straight as one salty tear dripped down her cheek,

"Where is she? Why are you doing this?" her voice cracked,

"Why!" Koh blinked, his face switching to an enraged looking blue face, obviously not that of a human. "Don't act as though you didn't bring this upon yourself! It is your own incompetence that has wrought this upon her"

"How is this my fault?"

"It was you who allowed the spirits to be treated as nothing more than filth in your absence!" he yelled angrily "It was you who allowed that human woman to exploit the power of the spirits. You allowed three years of our subjugation while you stayed detached from the world. Consider this reparation for your failure as the bridge between the worlds, for your failure as the protector of the humans and spirits, for your total and utter failure as the Avatar."

"Please, let her go" she begged "I stopped Kuvira, she can't exploit the spirits any longer. I opened the spirit portal in republic city to allow the integration of spirits into the physical world. I have given everything I possibly can for the spirits and more. Please don't hurt her" Korra swallowed a lump forming in her throat as her voice cracked, "please just... just let her go" Koh turned to face away from Korra,

"I think we both know that it would be quite impossible for me to allow her to leave Avatar" he smirked.

"LET HER GO!" Korra screamed angrily, allowing her face to contort for a second into the purest image of anger. She gasped quickly, forcing her face back to an emotionally blank page, all the while her rage filling her up, her heart burning with pure fury. Koh quickly spun around, his face switched back to what appeared to be his default, the white mask. He grinned wickedly,

"Come on avatar, show me your rage. What are you going to do? Kill me? Your predecessors have tried many times, in fact the last Avatar from your pathetic tribe spent his entire life hunting me trying to reclaim this" Koh blinked his face changing to that of a beautiful water tribe woman, her hazel hair waved as a small breeze passed into the cave. He laughed, the woman's voice becoming prevalent. Korra felt a chill creep down her spine as she looked on in horror, she couldn't let this happen to Asami, she wouldn't allow it. Koh let out a maniacal laugh "I have a special place in my collection for every face of the Avatars love I take, yours shall be the fourth, and it's long overdue, it's been nearly five hundred years since I last added one." Koh blinked again, this time his face changing to that of a scrawny looking air nomad boy, no older than fifteen, his tattoo neither the traditional arrow nor the pattern the nomads had in Wan's time, this one was more rounded at the end where the point of the arrow would usually be. Koh blinked again and the face of an elderly earth kingdom man came to view, his grey beard almost touching the floor. He changed back to the water tribe woman, "I have fought you many times before and each time I have been the victor. Why should I be afraid of you, what makes you so special?" he mocked, turning around and wandering back further into the cave away from Korra. Korra clenched her fists together tightly as thick black smoke rose from them, more and more pouring out with each passing second, Korra's eyes flashed white for a moment,

"YOU WILL TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!" Korra yelled furiously. The spirit turned and Korra quickly contorted her face to show no emotion. He dashed right up to Korra, staring into her eyes menacingly, their faces almost touching from the closeness.

"Leave me Avatar" he turned again nonchalantly, "and I may allow your love to live a while longer." Korra stayed put, unmoving. Her mind raced with thought of ways she could find Asami and save her, "or by all means stay, I'm sure if you concentrate hard enough I'm sure you will be able to find her" he chuckled under his breath. Korra brought her hands up to her head and rubbed them up her face and pulled at her hair. She paused. Her eyes narrowed, looking over at the spirit, then slowly widened. Korra turned around beginning to walk out of the cave, "that's right Avatar, leave, it's always a pleasure" he grinned.

Korra stomped angrily on the ground, the earth under her cracked and rippled outwards from her foot as a large tower of rock shot up underneath Koh, pummelling him against the roof of the cave. Korra continued walking out of the cave emerging into the field. The sky was black and the sound of thunder was deafening. Korra looked around, noticing Shiju sat cowering behind a rock near the entrance of the cave, his hands held over his ears and shaking with fright. She inhaled deeply allowing her mind to become calmer, as the clouds began to retreat the only sound to be heard was the chirping of a few baby dragon birds flying overhead. Shiju stood up peering anxiously over the top of the rock,

"Is..is it over?" Korra looked down at the floor,

"It's over." she walked over towards her and Asami's bags.

"Avatar? Where's your friend? I thought you went in to get her?" he inquired,

"I'm... working on it" Korra sat down next to their bags, she reached in and pulled out Asami's jacket. She shifted into the lotus position and pulled the jacket close to her, hugging it. "come on Korra if Jinora can do it so can you, you're the Avatar" she reassured herself, her voice changed to a whisper, "you're the Avatar" Korra inhaled deeply, allowing her mind to go blank, save for one image, Asami. Korra's eyes flashed for a second, then began to glow continuously.

The room was small and dark, the rocky walls displaying smalls cracks all around. It lay completely bare except for a woman laid on the floor, next to the wall with a small bowl of water beside her. A chain linked the woman to the wall by a collar around her neck, so tight each breath took tremendous effort. Her gasping for breath was the only audible noise as she struggled to even intake enough to survive. She lay struggling to keep her eyes open, dying slowly, painfully on the floor. Her clothes were shredded and muddied and her skin bruised, cut, ripped all over. A blue silhouette flashed in front of her, illuminating the room slightly. The woman stirred slightly attempting to reach out weakly to the silhouette as it flashed again. The blue light enveloped the room as Korra's spirit solidified in front of the woman. Korra's face shifted to the picture of horror, her heart sank, her stomach twisted, her eyes quickly welled up.

"A..A..Asami?" She knelt down next to her trying, futilely, to hug her, to help her, to caress her beautiful raven hair, to reassure her that it was all going to be ok. Korra's throat swelled up as she tried to get her words out, to tell Asami she was there, to tell her she would get her out, but none would come. She grasped tightly at her pants and looked down pulling her eyes closed allowing her tears to drip onto the floor. "I.. I'm sorry Asami" she stuttered. A scuttling noise came from just outside the room,

"I warned you Avatar..."


	11. Chapter 11 - The Face Stealer

**Chapter 11 – The Face Stealer**

Korra gasped, standing and turning around to face the voice. Koh crawled on the ceiling through a rocky doorway into the room. Asami cowered, letting out a small squeak of fear through the binding around her neck. She squirmed back away from the monster, attempting desperately to breathe through the binding, her suffering greater and greater with each breath and each movement. Korra looked down on her love, seeing her torture. Every inch of her being fought against the urge to break down, to let out her anger at this monster. Koh laughed, crawling closer and closer to Asami,

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Korra yelled as the spirit inched slowly toward Asami, "DON'T TOUCH HER!" Korra quickly stepped over and rooted herself to the ground between the spirit and her girlfriend. Koh extended one of his thin legs and swung it towards Korra, swatting her across the room and smashing her into the wall, Korra groaned as she fell to the floor.

"You have no bending when you're out of your body Avatar, you're powerless, and while I may not be able to take your face while you're like this I can still hurt you." he smirked wickedly as he continued toward Asami. She gasped desperately for breath, fear painted in her eyes as she pushed frantically against the wall. She looked around the room, her head sharply moving in all directions, trying to find some means of escape. Koh slowly peered his face in front of Asami, a wicked grin spreading across his eerie white face. The pincers in front of his face uncurled and pointed toward Asami before he lunged forward, stabbing each though her shirt and pinning her to the wall.

"Aaaaaaaaah" Asami attempted to scream in pain, her neck binding not allowing the noise to become more than a whisper. Red trickled down her white shirt from her shoulder as Koh appeared to have missed his target, stabbing straight through Asami's right shoulder. She reached out towards Korra, her arm shaking violently.

"K..K..K...Ko...Korrahhhh" Asami whispered through her torture, the life fading from her eyes as they slowly closed, "pleahh...hel...me" Korra reached her arm out, stretching as far as she could, before it fell to the floor weakly. Korra looked on agonizingly as Koh placed his one remaining pincer on Asami's forehead, lifting up her head and placing it against the wall. He blinked but no new face arrived, he was left instead with nothing but a small indent where his faces usually form. Asami opened her eyes, her body growing limper by the second and looked at Koh, her eyes started to blur outward, then her nose, mouth, the rest of her face following shortly, blurring towards Koh. She rolled her head slowly to the side slightly on the wall to face Korra, she used all her strength to keep her eyes open and take in the image of her love as best she could, one last time. She mouthed four words, they cut her throat to say as she knew she would never be able to say them again,

"I love you Korra"

"No please! DON'T DO IT!" Korra sobbed, "PLEASE!" she begged "Please..." her voice faded as Asami brought in a slow shallow breath, the blur retreated into Koh's socket as Asami's body fell, empty, to the floor. Korra's eyed widened in horror, her jaw dropped and her breathing became more erratic as her heart shattered like glass. "No..." Her stomach twisted and turned in knots as her eyes reddened filling with tears. Korra clenched her fists tightly, every muscle in her body tensing up as tears streamed down her face. "NOOOO!" her eyebrows twitched as they forced themselves further and further down, her mouth following on. Her blood boiled and her bones burned with rage, with anger, with hatred. Korra jerked forward, throwing her head down and clutched her hair with her hands. She swallowed a lump in her throat and moved her hands down her face to over her eyes, beginning to sob uncontrollably.

"Ooohh, I like this one, it's even nicer than I thought, wouldn't you agree Avatar?" Korra slid her hands slowly down her face, scratching the tears from her eyes. She began to attempt to regain her breath as she slowly moved her head upward. Korra's eyes widened as she saw him, her throat seized up as she frantically gasped for air,

"no, no, no, no, no, oh no, no, no, no, no..." Korra stammered, staring at Koh as she shook nervously. Raven hair, emerald eyes surrounded by purple, luscious red lips. "no, no, no, this isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real" Korra denied, rubbing her hands anxiously through her hair, as she tried to figure out what to do. Although Korra recognised the face presented in front of her it wasn't the same, it didn't have her charm, it didn't have her smile, her laugh, it wasn't her. Korra shook in place with grief, tears streaming down her face as the looked into those green eyes, then over to Asami's body. She reached her arm out towards Koh to touch the face,

"HAHAHA, the great and powerful Avatar reduced to a snivelling mess, what's the matter Avatar? Don't I look good" Asami's mouth moved but it was not her, her own voice traded for this malicious monster. Korra looked down, squeezing her eyes closed and tensing all the muscles in her body, pushing her grief further and further down, replacing it with her built up rage,

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh" Korra yelled savagely as she swung her right arm upward, hitting Koh underneath where his faces form. Korra stood up swinging both her fists at him ferociously, punching him on either side repeatedly. Koh shifted back slightly as Korra continued to hit him. Korra's punches became more slow and lethargic and she dropped to her knees, the tears returning "Asami" she cried "A..A..Asami-i-i" tears streamed down her face as her spirit flashed. Korra's spirit began to fade as she sobbed, Koh launched himself forward towards her. She faded out, Koh flew through where her spirit was, striking the wall on the other side.

Korra gasped sharply as she returned to her body. Black clouds swirled overhead as the rain fell. A crack of thunder came from the distance. Korra pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her head, trying desperately to cover her sobs. Korra allowed her body to fall to the floor as she cried, not quite sure whether it was from sadness or anger, maybe both. She felt a light embrace around her stomach,

"It's ok Avatar, what's wrong?" Korra pried her eyes open painfully and peered down, her small green friend looked up at her anxiously, even now a small smile on his face.

"She's gone Shiju, he took her and she's gone and he took her and I don't know what to do and I.. I.. I can't..." her mouth would allow no more words to form. She waved her arms around trying to show what she wanted to say as more tears streamed down her face, mixing with the raindrops as they slowly travelled down her cheeks. A small anguished noise released itself from her mouth as Korra brought her hands back up to her face, over her eyes. He squeezed her tighter,

"It's gonna be ok Avatar" Korra moved her hands around him and picked him up, hugging him against her chest, sobbing uncontrollably.

"I just... I don't know what to do" Korra said, her voice reflecting the torture of her soul. Shiju looked up at her empathetically as his small round eyes widened with realisation,

"Why not ask Raava?" Korra looked at him inquiringly, "she's the oldest spirit there is, I'm sure she'd be able to help you" he smiled

"Maybe you're right" Korra forced a smile at him. "R-Raava?"

"_Yes Korra"_

"I'm so confused, What do I do? How do I save her? Please... I need her... I can't.."

"_Korra, do not fret, I know how to get her back, but to do so you must calm yourself and listen carefully" _Korra took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself down. She brought up a hand to her eyes and wiped away the lingering tears,

"O-ok" she sniffed "what.. what do I do?"

"_In order to reclaim Asami from Koh you must be able to sever the bond that ties his victims to him"_

"And how do I do that?"

"_You must bend the energy within him, sever his connection to the lives he has taken, but be warned should you do this incorrectly you will destroy both yourself and all who live within him"_

"So you mean if I make a mistake... Asami... dies?" Korra looked down a her eyes begging for this to just be some nightmare, begging that she was curled up in bed with Asami and none of this was real.

"_I am sorry. I feel your love for her, it is a beautiful thing. Do not give up hope Korra, it is not over, you can save her, you will save her. YOU are the Avatar." _Korra's eyes narrowed determinedly as she got to her feet. She tilted her head each way, cracking her neck.

Korra reached into her bag and pulled out her fur jacket. She ripped the hood swiftly off and placed it on her face like a mask. She burned two small holes in the top of the hood. Korra tied the string protruding from the bottom of the hood in a knot around the back of her head then bringing the strings up and though the holes burned in the top of the hood and tying them again to keep it in place. Her hands came up towards her face as she extended her middle and index finger on each hand and placed them on the hood in front of her eyes. Flames burned orange around her fingers as she pressed them into the hood. She quickly swiped them to the side, burning two small holes she could see out of.

"Stay here" she turned to Shiju, her eyebrows almost all that was visible through the burned holes as they pressed down violently. He nodded subserviently as Korra turned and stomped toward the cave yet again. She came though the rocky archway and stared deeper into the tunnel. Her rage escaped in one word,

"KOH!"

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><p><strong>Ok since I'm coming to the end of this fic (only a few chapters left now), firstly I just want to thank everyone for all the support so far. But secondly I just want to ask whether you feel as though I should continue after I finish this "storyline", I have ideas as to where I want to take this but obviously if no one would be interested in reading more after this there's really not much point writing it, anyway please leave a review with your thoughts if you can.<strong>

**Thanks in advance.**


	12. Chapter 12 - Recompense

**Chapter 12 - Recompense**

Korra violently stomped into the cave, the ground beneath her feet cracking under her steps. Her eyes narrowed with anger as she brought her hands up towards her chest, clenching her fists tightly. As she thrust her arms down to her side a line of flame spread up her arm, sparking from her knuckle and quickly climbing up to her shoulder, burning intensely, the flames reaching up above her head from her shoulder.

"Koh! Face me!" A scuttling noise came from deeper in the cave. Korra continued to stomp deeper and deeper, towards where she assumed Asami's prison was. The scuttling slowly became louder as Korra's eyes darted in every direction, surveying the surroundings for any sign of that rotten insect. Suddenly she felt a pain in her stomach as she flew across the cave and smacked into the wall. She placed both of her arms around her stomach, almost hugging herself for some kind of relief from the pain. She looked up to see the vile creature slowly lurking out from the shadows, she looked down at the floor, an angry expression coming to her face and without a moments hesitation she pushed herself up from the ground with her fists. Korra closed her eyes as she pulled her fist back, twisting her body for maximum power. She leaned forward and stomped the ground creating a ripple of earth from her foot, shooting her forward. As she flew toward Koh her fist ignited, allowing the flame again to stretch up her arm. She swung her arm toward him, opening her eyes to get a clear look as she hit him.

Her breath caught and her heart stopped as she planted her feet to the floor, stumbling forward. She struggled for breath, she stared, eyes fixated on the monster before her as she held an expression of almost disbelief. Her raised arm trembled as the fire began to retreat back down into her fist. She looked on at the face of the raven haired beauty she had come to love, her eyes pleading,

"Korra! save me!" he yelled in an anguished tone, mocking her with Asami's voice. He laughed, "Korra, oh Korra! You're pathetic Avatar. You wouldn't dare hurt me. She's mine now, don't you understand!? She's dead, and it's all your fault." he smirked at her evilly.

"aaaaahhhhhhh" Korra yelled furiously, springing herself forward throwing each of her fists violently towards Koh, balls of fire and blasts of air thrusting out from her fists, striking him and pushing him further into the cave, a small creek creeping alongside the path through. Her eyes flashed fiery white as her eyebrows pushed down, her voice deepened with the various vengeful grunts she gave throwing each element at the creature. She stomped rapidly toward Koh, her movements jagged and powerful from her rage. Korra's eyes began to glow a blinding white. She stomped on the ground with one foot and it launched her toward Koh, she twisted her body in the air, angling her legs upwards as she tucked them into her chest. She quickly pushed them out from her body, two large streams of air firing her at the ground. Her fist struck the ground with a huge force, rippling outward and forcing a column of rock to shoot up beneath Koh, throwing him up in the air. Korra jumped backwards allowing her shoulders to hit the floor, she thrust her legs outward quickly lifting her body into the air, a twisting inferno of fire released from her feet and flew toward Koh, it hit him and threw him back into the back wall of the cave.

The monster lay there against the wall, his legs sprawled out to the side of his body as he looked at Korra defeatedly with Asami's eyes. Korra took a rooted stance and extended her arms out toward him. She slowly pulled her arms into her body clenching her fists tight as she did. Rocks jutted out from the walls, slowly moving over Koh's bony legs, encasing them. The creature writhed and let out a few anguished, angry screams attempting to break from it's bonds as Korra walked, enraged, toward him.

Korra stopped next to him, staring up at him as he struggled to get free. She placed her arm at her side and tightened her muscles, straining at the earth beneath her. She quickly brought her arm up, pulling the earth beneath her with it, bringing her up to the height of _his face_; she shuddered with anger that the thought of calling it his.

Korra looked down at the face of her love, taken from her by this monster. She moved her hand toward the face to touch her, for what could be the last time, hovering her hand above it apprehensively. Korra closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked down at Asami's face,

"Please, please work" she muttered under her breath,

She exhaled deeply in preparation as she slowly moved her thumb to the middle of Asami's forehead, Koh screamed,

"GET OFF ME AVATAR! DON'T TOUCH ME!" Korra pressed down hard. She jerked forward for a second as she gasped for air, becoming breathless as her eyes pulsed, the white light shining brighter. Koh's eyelid clamped down to change faces so as to not allow Korra to steal his prize from him, to no avail. Korra grabbed the top lid with her free hand, fire burning in her palm, and yanked it back open,

"NO YOU DON'T!" she yelled as the white light began to spread from her eyes, across her face and around her head. Down to her shoulders and slowly stretched down her arm towards Koh. The glow reached her hand and pushed down her thumb, forcing her to press down harder. The eyes of Asami's face rolled up into her head as the light spread into them, at first just a dim spark but it quickly shone brighter and brighter.

Her face began to stretch outward as the monster screamed in pain, "aaaaaaagggghhhh." Korra saw the seams holding the face to Koh begin to split and pressed down determinedly. The face stretched further out causing Koh to scream louder.

The bond snapped.

Asami's face floated from Koh, eliciting a shallow breath from the oversized insect. Korra looked up, seeing her love's escape from this prison, she felt the happiness well up in her forcing a smile on her face and tears down her cheeks. She laughed, letting out her tears as her joy filled her as she watched her face float slowly into the air, slowly fading out of existence and back to it's owner.

Korra looked back down at Koh, her thumb still pressed in the same place although now on another face,_ "that water tribe woman, Kuruk's wife" _both Korra's and this woman's eyes glowed as her face stretched out, quickly detaching from Koh, floating away and dissipating, much faster than Asami's. The faces changed one by one, each time to another of Koh's victims and the same process followed, faster each time, the eyes glowed and the face detached and floated away, disappearing; with each his screams of anger becoming louder and his thrashing more violent. An old woman appeared, discernibly of water tribe origin, Korra pressed down, feeling only one bond remaining within the creature, she concentrated hard on severing the bond, it snapped, allowing her face to float away, as it drifted the woman's eyes looked down, a small smile formed on her face,

"Wan" a tear formed in her eye, "I knew you'd come back for me" she spoke softly before disappearing. Korra looked on into the space the woman's face had inhabited, her emotions impossible to read from the sheer mixture taking over her body.

Korra looked down at Koh as his body slumped down, defeated. He could not writhe nor scream no matter how he tried, the space his faces usually filled now replaced by a simple emptiness.

"You won't hurt anyone ever again"

She pushed down slowly on the column of rock beneath her. As she came back to ground level Korra stepped in front of Koh, about 10 feet away, she closed her eyes and allowing them again to succumb to the glow. She stared at him, lifting her arms up in front of her, creating a thick wall of rock surrounding him. She extended her arms to the side and slowly brought them together in front of her of of them, one hand carrying a wall of flame, the other of air; the two barriers mixed together and stretched around the rock wall. Korra then turned to the creek at the side of the cave waving her arm toward the entrapment she had created for Koh. She spread the water around the base of the cage and brought her arms up, lifting the water to the roof of the cave and freezing it. Korra reached out her hand and clenched it into a fist, creating a small hole in the cage,

"You're staying locked in here forever Koh, where you can no longer hurt anyone, human or spirit" He gave no response. Korra turned and began to walk away, lifting up her arm and clenching her fist, sealing the hole behind her.

"Korra" a voice whispered. THUD. The noise came from behind Korra. She turned around to see a woman sprawled out on the floor, desperately trying to climb to her feet or crawl toward her. Korra turned instantly and sprinted toward the woman, tears of joy dripping down her face, her mouth aching from the wideness of her smile.

"Asami!" She fell to her knees and slid toward the raven haired woman quickly rolling her over and Throwing her arms around her. "You're ok" her voice cracked, "I thought I'd lost you, I thought you were gone." Korra grasped Asami's hand and pulled it to her chest, "but you're here, you're ok"

"I'm ok, I'm glad you're here" Asami whispered weakly, attempting to bring her hand up to Korra's face but lacking the strength to move more than a few inches. The torment her body had been through apparent in the cuts and bruises all over her body.

"What did he do to you?" Korra said softly, concern prevalent in her voice, her face displaying a worried expression. Asami opened her mouth as if to speak but quickly squeezed her eyes closed, her throat closing up as she shook her head and began to jerk and quiver with silent cries. Korra slid her arms under her back and knees and lifted her up. She turned toward the cave entrance and carried her hastily out. "Don't worry Asami, it's all gonna be ok" she smiled down at her girlfriend, Asami returned the favour almost instantly, then closing her eyes and nuzzling into Korra's chest.

Korra exited the cave into the grove, quickly looking around for a spirit oasis in which to heal Asami. She spotted one over in the distance and walked hastily toward it,

"Don't worry Asami, you'll feel better in no time. I promise."

Korra stepped into the oasis and gently set Asami down, looking over her cut and bruised body she stepped backwards out of the water. And slowly raised her arms, swirling them in the air. The water around Asami began to glow as her bruises faded back into her fair skin and her cuts healed over. Asami sat up and took a deep sharp breath, looking around worriedly,

"Korra?" she looked on at her girlfriend, her verdant eyes filling with tears, "Korra!" she stood and flung herself towards Korra, hugging her and knocking her to the ground. Asami lay on top of her, squeezing her tight, "You saved me, you saved me" she placed both her hands on Korra's cheeks and kissed her. She pulled away and smiled down at the blue eyed beauty.

Korra took Asami's hands in hers and intertwined their fingers, pulling her down onto her chest and rolling over so she was on top of Asami. "Of course I saved you" Korra leaned down and kissed her, "I love you"

Asami couldn't contain her smile, it spread right across her face as she began to laugh slightly from happiness. She brought a hand up to her eye and wiped away a tear,

"I love you too, so, so much"

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><p><strong>Well, we're almost there, that's the end of my main story although I am going to do a small epilogue chapter next. I hope this ending was good enough for everyone. Please leave me a review and tell me what you thought of it, I'd really appreciate it.<strong>

**P.S. Just to make it clear I wanted to include my own headcanon about Wan marrying a Water Tribe woman into this so thats what that was.**


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